Creating navigation paths
A navigation path is a collection of non-measure columns that business users might associate for data exploration.
When a data module contains navigation paths, the dashboard users can drill down and back to change the focus of their analysis by moving between levels of information. The users can drill down from column to column in the navigation path by either following the order of columns in the navigation path, or by choosing the column to which they want to proceed.
About this task
You can create a navigation path with columns that are logically related, such as year, month, quarter, week. You can also create a navigation path with columns that are not logically related, such as product, customer, state, city.
Columns from different tables can be added to a navigation path. The same column can be added to multiple navigation paths.
A data module can have multiple navigation paths.
Procedure
-
In the data module panel, start creating a navigation path by using one of the following
methods:
- From the data module context menu
, click
Properties, and then click the Navigation paths tab.
Click Add a navigation path. In the Create navigation
path dialog box, drag columns from the data module panel to the navigation path panel.
Change the order of columns as needed. Click OK. - In the data module tree, select one or more columns, and from the context menu of any of the selected columns, click Create navigation
path. The selected columns are listed in the Create navigation
path dialog box. Click OK.
Tip: The default name of the navigation path includes names of the first and last column in the path. You can change this name. - From the data module context menu
-
To modify a navigation path, from the data module context menu , click Properties, and then click the Navigation
paths tab. Click the Edit link for the path that you want to
modify. In the Edit navigation path dialog box, you can make the following
modifications:
- To add different columns, drag the columns from the data module to the navigation path. You can multi-select columns and drag them all at once.
- To remove columns, click the remove
icon
for the column. - To change the order of columns, drag them up or down.
- To change the navigation path name, overwrite the existing name.
The default name reacts to the changed order of columns. If you overwrite the default name, it does no longer change when you modify the group definition. The name cannot be blank.
Results
The navigation path is added to the data module and is available to users in dashboards and
stories. If you select the option Identify navigation path members
in the data module toolbar, the columns that are members of the
navigation path are underlined.
What to do next
The modeler can modify the navigation path at any time, and re-save the data module.
To view the navigation path that a column belongs to, from the column context menu , click . Click the navigation path name to view or modify its definition.
To view all navigation paths in a data module, from the data module context menu , click . Click the navigation path name to view or modify its definition. To delete a
navigation path, click the remove icon for the
path.